THE GAME BREEDER 



149 



those who do not shoot with as much 

 freedom as gunners do in the older coun- 

 tries where there is more freedom than 

 there is in America, we are inclined in 

 the spirit of harmony to waive our opin- 

 ion on this point even if some of the 

 twenty-five ducks legally shot in a day 

 be wasted. When it becomes evident, 

 as it soon will, that America has more 

 game than any country in the world we 

 have no doubt that arrangements can be 

 made so that the people who are said to 

 own the wild game can have some of it 

 to eat. Meantime the. breeders will con- 

 tinue to supply the food and the indus- 

 try certainly is profitable. 



ROOSEVELT. 



One of the best known and strongest 

 figures of our time, a thoroughly devout 

 American, is dead. Soon after leaving 

 Harvard Theodore Roosevelt went to 

 what was then known as the far west, 

 where soon he was active as a ranch- 

 man, living and working with his cow- 

 boys. At his Elkhorn ranch on the Lit- 

 tle Missouri he became an expert rough- 

 rider, sharing the hardships of many 

 round-ups with his men. There were a 

 few straggling bison, or buffalo, on the 

 plains and in the bad lands near the 

 ranch; the wilder antelope, the black- 

 tailed or mule deer and the common Vir- 

 ginia deer were fairly plentiful. Sharp- 

 tailed grouse and sage cocks were com- 

 mon on the grassy plains and on the 

 more desert areas where the artemesia 

 or wild sage grows. Wild geese and 

 ducks came to the river and these birds 

 were plentiful on the little ponds and 

 marshes, some nested in the locality. 



In his excellent book, "Hunting Trips 

 of a Ranchman," the one which natural- 

 ly interests us more than any other, 

 Roosevelt describes the shooting of all 

 of the game mentioned and also his trips 

 after elk and bear. The outdoor post- 

 graduate course was an excellent prep- 

 aration for the strenuous manly life 

 which followed. 



About the time that Roosevelt was 

 conducting his ranch at the eastern boun- 

 daries of the vast plains utilized for cat- 



tle raising the writer made a shooting 

 trip with some officers of the army into 

 the Sioux country where the bison and 

 other big game abounded, starting sev- 

 eral hundred miles west of the Elkhorn 

 ranch. When the book, "In Brush, 

 Sedge and Stubble," in which the wri- 

 ter described the game birds shot on 

 this trip appeared, a letter promptly 

 came from the governor of New York, 

 praising the book as "the best thing that 

 has been done." The hearty, unsolicited 

 praise from the author of "Hunting 

 Trips of a Ranchman" was characteris- 

 tic of the generous, many-sided Roose- 

 velt who had an enthusiastic liking for 

 books and writers. 



Roosevelt' preferred the rifle to the 

 shotgun. "To my mind," he wrote, 

 "there is no comparison between sport 

 with the rifle and sport with the shotgun. 

 The rifle is the free man's weapon. The 

 man who uses it well in the chase shows 

 that he can at need use it also in war 

 with human foes." But he was "far 

 from decrying the shotgun." "It is al- 

 ways pleasant," he wrote, "as a change 

 from the rifle, and in the eastern states 

 it is almost the only firearm which we 

 now have a chance to use." He enjoyed 

 shooting grouse and other feathered 

 game and was not averse to big bags 

 when the opportunity offered and the 

 game shot could be used as food. 



His liking for field sports was coupled 

 with an interest in natural history and 

 his stories of the chase are often accom- 

 panied with notes abo*ut the habits of 

 the game. He attributed his good health 

 to his fondness for outdoor life and he 

 set a good example for the youth of 

 America which should enable them to 

 silence those who would decry sport. 



Upon one occasion when we were 

 writing an article for a magazine of gen- 

 eral circulation a letter came from 

 Roosevelt containing a forceful opinion 

 which seemed to fit in well with what 

 was written and we used a quotation 

 from the letter. After the article had 

 been mailed to the magazine it occurred 

 to us that we were giving publicity to 

 a private correspondence without permis- 

 sion and we suggested to the editor of 



